Sundance Invites 26 to World Premiere of ‘Life in a Day’

Twenty-six spontaneous filmmakers from around the world will be heading to the Sundance Film Festival in two weeks, all for the same project: Life in a Day. The experimental crowd-sourced feature will have its world premiere at the Eccles Theatre on Thursday, Jan. 27.

YouTube and Scott Free UK produced the project, which originated from an invitation to people around the world to send in footage they shot on July 24, 2010. Scott Free worked with Rick Smolan, CEO of Against All Odds Prods., to distribute cameras to remote regions of the world to make sure the film was as inclusive as possible.  

Last King of Scotland director Kevin Macdonald has spent the last six months with his team directing and editing the 4,500 hours of footage from 192 countries into a contiguous feature that will screen as part of the Premieres section of the fest. All of the contributors whose footage was used are credited as co-directors, and 26 have been invited to attend the premiere (full list below).

YouTube will also live stream the film (at youtube.com/lifeinaday)  at 6:00pm MT Jan. 27 and then rebroadcast it the following day at 7 p.m. in their local time zone, subtitled in 25 languages. Festival director John Cooper will moderate a global Q&A with Macdonald and the 26 filmmakers after the premiere.

“The process of making Life in a Day has been such an inspiring one for me and my team, who helped view and log all 4,500 hours of footage we received,” says Macdonald. “Every day, we felt like we were seeing 20 different possible films as we got insights into so many people’s lives. It is a testament to the skill, insight and generosity of so many contributors that we have ended up with such a powerful, cohesive and emotionally engaging film.”

The contributors (either filmmakers or subjects of the submitted clip) invited to the Sundance premiere:

Massoud Hossaini — Kabul, Afghanistan

Cristina Bocchialini | Ayman El Sayed Hassan — Cairo, Egypt

Soma Helmi — Bali, Indonesia

Hiroaki Aikawa | Taiji Aikawa — Tokyo, Japan

Marek Mackovic | Okhwan Yoon — Kathmandu, Nepal

Alberto Rauizo Gonzalez | Cain Abel Tapia Chavez | Aveliro Tapia — Arequipa, Peru

Renat Ardilanov | Alexander Bayturin — Moscow, Russia

Patricia Marinez del Hoyo | Toniu Xou | Virginia Salvado Segu | Araceli Segu Muste — Barcelona, Spain

Boris Grishkevich — Zakarpatska, Ukraine

Harvey Glen — Dubai, United Arab Emirates

Caryn Waechter — New York, N.Y., United States

Christoper Brian Heerdt — Naperville, Ill., United States

David Jacques — Woonsocket, R.I., United States

Betsy DelValley — Urbana, Ill., United States

Bob Liginski, Jr. | Bobby Liginski III | Catherine Anne Liginsky — Grayslake, Ill., United States